Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life.  You deserve the day to be exactly as you dreamed it to be.   This is why you should stop and learn how to tackle the biggest event of your life.

The first thing that you must do in your wedding planning is to organize your thoughts and ideas about what you want.  Consider items such as what your budget is, what time of the year you want to get married, the style of your wedding, gather your invite list, and what time of the day do you want the wedding.  This will help you determine the right choices for your wedding and eliminates wasted time spent looking at venues and vendors that can meet your needs.  Not to mention saving you from headaches latter on down the road, such as having a reception site that is too small for your guests.

Once you have your ideas down you need to build an organization system to keep all your wedding items together.  The best way to do this is to purchase a planner from a bookstore; I recommend a three ring binder, so that you can insert anything that you want in the binder and keep it in one location.  This will provide you a system to keep all the information you obtain during the planning process, but it will also give you timeline and checklists to follow for planning your wedding. 

You can also make an organization system of your own.  Gather a three ring binder, some tabs, a hole punch and some folder inserts for papers that cannot be hole punched.  You can get the timelines and checklists from wedding websites.  An organization system will allow you to keep all your wedding data in one place and keep you on top of the planning, thus eliminating the stress of finding what you need at the right time.

Now that you have taken the time to organize yourself and you know what you want it is time to get going! It is important to get as big a start on your wedding as possible.  It takes the average bride 8 hours a week to plan her wedding; you do not want to get behind and have to catch up!  It is okay to work ahead of the timeline, it is better to book a cake early than to miss the baker that you wanted because you waited.

The following are some general tips to keep in mind as you go through the planning process.

1. Re-confirm with all your vendors – It is okay to call a few times to ensure that you have your order placed exactly as you want it.  It is better to be safe than sorry.
2. Do not be afraid to ask for what you want.  Sometime other family members and even your vendors will try to dictate what you get for your wedding.  Do not let them – this is your wedding not theirs.  You do have to be considerate to mom and dad’s feelings if they are footing the bill, but try to strike a balance that keeps both parties happy.
3. Get References – do not be afraid to ask a vendor for references.  Just because they are in business and are nice does not mean they will do a good job!
4. Enjoy yourself – this is one of the most important times of your life.  If you are not having fun what is the point?  Here are some tips to help you keep the stress down!
1. Journal – it will help you keep your thoughts sane and prevent you from blowing up at someone else.
2. Sleep – It is important to keeping you healthy and not edgy.
3. Exercise
4. Hire help – whether this is a wedding planner or a housekeeper to help with your home front, you do not have to go it alone!
5. Elope – if all else fails! J
5. Document everything that you discuss with the vendor. 
1. Phone – if the decision discussed on the phone, follow up with a letter or email confirming what was discussed.
2. Email - save all sent and received emails until after the wedding is over.
6. Talk to those who have planned a wedding before if you are stuck with an issue – it is okay to ask for help. 
1. Ask past brides
2. Hire a wedding consultant
3. Ask your vendors – they deal with weddings all the time!

Good Luck with your planning!